topic Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator in Application Development and Automation Discussions

Parantheses error on VALUE operator

Former Member — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 12:58:14 GMT

Hey everyone,

the following code gives me the error "Instead of "(", ")" was expected" for the second opening parentheses. Does anybody know why i get that error?

Thanks in advance!

DATA: GT_BATCH TYPE BDCDATA OCCURS 0 WITH HEADER LINE. 
GT_BATCH = VALUE #( ( PROGRAM = 'SAPMSVMA' DYNPRO = '100' DYNBEGIN = 'X' FNAM = 'VIEWNAME' FVAL = 'ZPP_SV_STOERUNG' ) ( FNAM = 'BDC_OKCODE' FVAL = 'UPD' )).

Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator

former_member736527 — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 13:13:08 GMT

GT_BATCH in second line is being treated as a work area, since it has been declared as a header line.

Either declare GT_BATCH as below:

DATA: gt_batch TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF bdcdata.

Or use it as below (with square brackets):

GT_BATCH[] = VALUE#((PROGRAM='SAPMSVMA'DYNPRO='100' DYNBEGIN ='X' FNAM ='VIEWNAME' FVAL ='ZPP_SV_STOERUNG')( FNAM ='BDC_OKCODE' FVAL ='UPD')).

Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator

Dominik_Tylczynski — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 13:53:50 GMT

That's why internal tables work areas are deemed obsoleted. They can be really confusing as the same statement depending on context means two different variables.

Also I like to always put [] when dealing with table assignments. I do know it's superfluous but this way, I'm sure I refer to an internal table.

Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator

former_member736527 — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 15:12:02 GMT

Agreed! Can't be too careful!

The square brackets also help with the readability of the code. I too use it more often than not!

Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator

matt — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 16:25:18 GMT

I completely disagree. header tables are obsolete. The only place where header tables have to be used (and thus [ ] makes sense to indicate the table where necessary) is select options.

So long as you name your variables well, specifying that it's an internal table using [ ] is unnecessary and detracts from readability. E.g. users[ ] or user[ ] is less readable and understandable than the simple users.

In my view using square brackets goes against clean code principles. You can be too careful.

The OP should use Taha's first suggestion. It is the correct one.

Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator

Sandra_Rossi — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 20:35:09 GMT

OCCURS 0 is obsolete.
WITH HEADER LINE is obsolete and error prone. (exactly the case of error you have)

Use:

DATA: gt_batch TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF bdcdata.

and that solves.

Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator

Former Member — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 10:39:49 GMT

Thanks a lot Taha, i feel like an idiot now.

I knew it was a simple problem, i just didn't see it...

Re: Parantheses error on VALUE operator

Sandra_Rossi — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 14:37:11 GMT

It's not a simple problem. It's very difficult to train, to use modern code and stop using old habits of obsolete code. See how many people are still using procedural code.